Weakness

Akito's pov:

"Akito, wake up. Wake up, Akito" Yumeko whispers as she shakes me, trying to get me to wake up.

I groan as I raise my head to see our teacher staring at me with an intense look, not breaking eye contact and the glass erupting into laughter.

"The teacher has called your name three times now" Yumeko states.

"I'm sorry, I guess I just dozed off again" I apologize and the class starts laughing.

I'm Akito Ashida and I'm currently in my economics class. The girl who just woke me up, is my adorable girlfriend, Yumeko Hayami.

We've been together for seven months now and I've never been happier. She just... completes me, ya know.

"Akito" Yumeko slaps the back of my head.

"Sorry".

Aannnnddd, I zoned out again. Why do I keep doing this? I have no clue myself.

"You're such a child" she says shaking her head.

"Yeah I know" I sigh.

The moment the bell rings, indicating that it is now lunch time, Minami shows up like a ghost in front of my desk.

"Sup Aki" he says saluting me.

"Yo, Minami" I say as I salute back.

We leave class and make our way down the busy hallways and up to the roof.

"You've been zoning out a lot recently, huh?" Minami asks me, digging into his takoyaki.

"I guess. I can't seem to understand why tho" I say unwrapping my lunch.

"Could it be you're daydreaming about a certain someone" he asks with a smirk.

"Who the heck could I possibly be daydreaming about" I sigh

"Yumeko, perhaps." He looks at me with takoyaki in his mouth.

"No! You moron" I state, wiping the sauce from my face.

Okay, maybe I do daydream about Yumeko sometimes. But only because I can't believe that I actually got her to be my girlfriend.

She always seemed out of my league and was someone who I never even dreamed of dating.

She had this demanding aura that kinda scared me.

But somehow, after spending time with her, I realised that she was just a huge softie hiding behind a tough exterior.

"Speaking of Yumeko, aren't you guys making 7 months together in few days" he asks.

"Oh, yeah I guess we are. Next week Thursday to be exact."

"You gonna get her anything for the special day?"

"I don't know. She's still pretty upset with with me"

"Oh, did something happen"

"I helped a girl at the convenience store reach something that she wasn't able to reach and she's made a huge fuss about it. She even told me to get that girl a gift this month."

"But you guys did make up right?"

That's something I didn't know the answer to myself. Sure we seemed okay and Yumeko say's that we are, but I can still tell that she's upset about it.

"Not exactly 100%."

"Just talk to her Aki. She might just be feeling insecure about it" he advises me.

"Why though? She knows that she's the only girl I ever wanna be with. I'd never look at other girls the way I look at her." I state, taking another bite of sushi.

"She won't know unless you tell her. In her mind, other girls still have a way of getting to you"

"Fine, I'll try talking to her about it again" I sigh.

As I continue to futher indulge myself in my sushi, Yumeko walks up to us and yells my name for no reason at all.

"Hey, Yumeko. Is something wrong" I ask her nervously.

"Can you do me a favour" she asks with a stern look on her face.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Can I borrow your English textbook? I forgot to pack mine this morning."

"Yeah, it's in my bag back in class" I tell her.

"You're not gonna go get it for me" she asks, a bit annoyed.

I swear with the look she had in her eye, she was ready to kill me then and there.

"You want me to get it for you?"

I probably shouldn't have asked that. She looks way more furious now.

"I don't know, Aki. You tell me" she loudly states.

"Wha- Why are you so upset? If you wanted me to get if for you, you could've just asked me."

As the two of us stand there 'talking' to one another, Minami just sits back and watches everything with a worried look on his face.

"Nevermind, Akito! I'll go get it myself" she says, completely upset.

"No, wait here, I'll go get it for you" I say as I run off to class.

I grab the book from my bag and try to get back to Yumeko as fast as I can, but as I near the top of the roof, I can over hear Yumeko and Minami talking.

I decide to stay still and hide by the stairs to listen in on their conversation.

Oh please. Sure it's a bit stalkish, but it's for a good cause.

"You seemed really upset Yumeko. Is something wrong" Minami asks her.

"No, nothing's wrong" she replys to him.

There she goes again. Pretending to not be upset.

"Well alright. I won't pry any further." Minami says, sitting back down.

"You're Aki's best friend, right" she questions him.

"Yeah."

"Do you know if Aki is seeing someone behind my back" she asks him, sounding a lot more timid than she was when she spoke to me.

"You mean as in cheating?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Of course not. Akito loves you too much to even think about other girls".

"I know he loves me, but I just have an uneasy feeling that he might be talking to other girls behind my back" she says, gripping the side of her skirt.

"You never have to worry about that. Besides, even if he did, I'd knock his teeth out before he even gets the chance to properly introduce himself" he says with a devilish grin.

I appreciate that he's trying to reassure her, but saying some absurd stuff like that is kinda scary.

"Thanks, Minami. I really appreciate it. I'll apologize for being so hard on Aki." she says with a smile on her face.

I do a little jog in the same spot before I head back up to the two of them.

I dash through the door trying to catch my breath as I hand the book over to Yumeko.

"Here, sorry I took so long".

"It's okay, thanks Akito." shes says with a softened expression.

She places a kiss on my cheeck and smiles at me.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you for no reason and for being upset that you helped that girl at the convenience store. You were just being kind and I let my insecurities get the better of me" she apologizes, using her hair to cover up her slightly red cheecks.

"It's okay. I'm sorry that I made you feel that way" I embrace her in a hug and she hugs me back tightly.

As we hold each other, I feel a sense of peace wash over me. I know that Yumeko is the one for me, and I'm grateful for her honesty.

After a moment, we pull back, and I look into her eyes. "Hey, let's make a deal," I say, a smile spreading across my face.

"What kind of deal?" she asks, her curiosity piqued.

"Let's make a deal to always be honest with each other, no matter what. If we're feeling jealous or insecure, we'll talk about it, and we'll work through it together."

Yumeko's face lights up with a smile. "I'd like that," she says, her voice filled with conviction.

I grin, feeling a sense of excitement. "Great! And to seal the deal, let's share our first kiss under the school's famous 'Love sanctuary' tree."

Yumeko's eyes widen in surprise, but then a sly smile spreads across her face.

"You're on," she says, her voice barely above a whisper.

We make our way to the tree, our hearts racing with excitement. As we stand under its branches, I take Yumeko's hand in mine, and we share a soft, sweet kiss.

As we pull back, I look into her eyes, and I know that our love is the real deal. We may have our ups and downs, but we'll face them together, always honest and always true to each other.

The rest of the day flies by in a blur, but I know that I'll never forget this moment, this kiss, and this promise we've made to each other.

The bell rings and classes start to empty as the students make their way out of their classes to head home while others go to their after school clubs.

As we make our way down the busy streets of Tokyo, I notice that Yumeko seems to be falling behind.

I turn around to see that she looks a bit distorted and walk up to her, placing my hands on her shoulders.

"Is everything okay" I ask her, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, everything's fine" she says, still looking down.

"Come on, you know you can talk to me if something's on your mind" I tell her, raising her eyes to meet mine.

"I feel bad for making you worry so much" she mutters in a soft tone.

Looking at her now, she's so cute.

Her eyes are all big and her cheeks are bright red.

I pat her on her head and she let's out a slight giggle as I continue to ruff up her hair.

"We already spoke about that. It's all in the past now."

"Thanks, Aki."

For some reason, head pats always make Yumeko feel better. She's like a puppy who just wants constant love and attention.

Which is so freakin adorable!!

"Today sure was busy, huh" Yumeko implies, tying up her hair into a pony tail.

"It sure was. I couldn't catch a break" I say, swinging my arms back and forth.

"Couldn't catch a break? Aki, you slept through almost every class we got today" she states, adjusting her bag on her back.

"Well it wasn't enough sleep. I'm exhausted" I yawn, while Yumeko giggles from beside me.

We stop to get some pork buns and right after, I drop Yumeko off and make my way home.

Considering that I'm home alone tonight, I think I'll just stay in my room and study.

Gotta keep my grades up if I wanna better my future.

Sigh...

I get home and immediately throw my bag on the couch and head upstairs.

I lay on my bed and start to think about possible gifts to get for Yumeko.

With nothing coming to mind, I decide to search up something online.

'Special gifts to get for your girlfriend'. I browse through the countless options of necklaces, bracelets and hair accessories on the site until something catches my eye.

A pair of heart shaped earings with her initial in the middle of it.

That seems kinda cute and like the type of thing Yumeko would like.

...

I suddenly hear the door knob turn from downstairs followed by the door opening.

Wait, didn't I lock the door when I got back?

I could've swron I did.

Hearing the sound of footsteps coming from downstairs, I grab a textbook from my study desk and slowly make my way downstairs.

Suddenly, I heat a familiar voice call my name and I immediately lower the textbook realising who it was.

"Mom!" I shout seeing her home again after so long.

Without wasting another second I run down the stairs and wrap my arms around her.

"Oh- Hey my baby" she says in a soft tone.

Normally, I'd hate being called baby, but I haven't seen my mom in so long that I didn't even care.

"You're finally home again" I say pulling away.

"Yeah. I got a week off from work."

She sits down in the living room and lets out a sigh of relief.

My mom's a doctor and normally works at facilities in a different city that require her assistace.

So she's normally not home.

There are times she'd stay at the facility for months without coming home, so I'm really glad to see her back home again.

"At least you get a break even if it's not for that long" I say sitting on the couch opposite from her.

"I know, especially since I'm gonna be transferred to a new facility in Shibuya next week."

Shibuya!!?

Okay, that's crazy.

My mom's never been that far from home before.

I don't have a problem with her leaving and all.

I mean my mom still calls me every night and makes sure that I have everything I need and that I'm okay.

"You're going to Shibuya?! That's awesome, mom! I'm really happy for you!" I shout in excitement.

"Thanks, sweetie. By the way, what did you make for dinner? I'm starving."

Oh crap!

I didn't cook anything because I thought I was gonna alone again tonight.

"I didn't make anything, but I can run to the store quickly to get something" I offer.

Despite it almost being dark out, I wouldn't mind running to the store.

I mean, it's for my mom.

"You sure, I don't want you be out this late" my mom says a bit concerned.

"Give me 20 minutes, I'll be back before you know it".

Before my mom could say anything, I storm out of the house and make my way to the store.

"What would mom wanna eat" I ask myself standing in the middle of the Isle.

I probably should've asked her bedore I left, huh?

I know...

I'll get ramen, just like how we always used to have together when we'd have our movie nights.

We could watch a movie too, if mom's not too tired.

I get about 4 cups of ramen, pay for it (like the good person I am) and make my way home.

Woah, the stars are already out.

I really love the night sky, it calms me down instantly and makes me feel whole.

While I'm busy admiring the stars about 3 blocks away fromy house, I hear a distant voice screaming out for... what sounds to be for help?

I decide to follow the voice to a dark alley with barely anyone around.

I take a peek and find a elderly man, drunk out of his mind, pinning what seems to be a highschool girl against the wall.

I drop the plastic and immediately push the guy off of her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you bastard?" I shout as I stand infront of the girl trying to protect her.

I turn my attention to the gir who's shaking behind me.

"Listen to me, run away from here and get yourself to safety" I instruct her.

"But what about you" she mumbles, trying to gather a breath.

"I'll be fine, No GO!"

She takes off and once she's around the corner, I turn my attention back to the guy.

"You punk! You ruined my night" he says, making his way back to his feet.

"What sort of a man picks on a teenage girl like that"

"We had something special! And you just came and ruined it all!"

He constantly sways back and forth from all the alcohol in his system.

He attemps to punch me but I avoid it and tackle him to the ground.

Without me noticing, he grabs a glass bottle from the side of the road and in an instant, I feel a sharp pain in the side of my head.

He hit me with the damn bottle!

The bastard hit me!

While I struggle to remain conscience, the man dissapears around the corner, leaving me with blood dripping from the right side of my head.

I try my best to make it back to my feet, grab the plastic and drag myself all the way home.

The moment I set foot in the house, I am immediately confronted by my half asleep, worried mother.

"Aki, what happened to you?! Are you okay? You're bleeding!"

She examines my head and without a second thought, grabs the first aid kit from the cabinet, not even waiting for my response.

She applies some disinfectant and treats the wound before wrapping a bandage around my head.

I feel like a mummy right now..

Boo!

Too weird?

Okay I'll stop.

"Wow, your hair's really gotten longer, huh" she says out of nowhere, examining my hair.

She forgot about the wound and is complimenting my hair?

"I guess it has. I never really saw the need to cut it. I just try to get it to look decent for school everyday" I respond to her.

"It's really pretty and soft too. It's reaches all the way to your shoulders" she plays with my hair before tying it up to finish wrapping the bandage around my head.

"Thanks?" Although that came out more like a question.

A little while later, I warm up the ramen and before I could get it to her, my mom passes out on the couch.

I cover her with a blanket and make my way upstairs to my room, throwing myself on the bed.

I find myself thinking about the poor girl in that alley.

What if no one had responded to her call for help?

Who knows what that guy could've done to her? She could've gotten molested or even worse.

I try to drown out those thoughts by staring at the stars through my bedroom window and shortly after, I pass out too.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***